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Immigration And Economics

Turns out , illegal immigration responds to economic incentives. Who knew? And who knew that law enforcement might be one of those incentives - do more of it, get less illegality.

Written by David Frum on Thursday May 14, 2009

The Man Who Didn't Know The Rules

Arkansas senatorial hopeful Kim Hendren has fallen into some trouble for referring to NY Sen Chuck Schumer as "that Jew." Quite right too! What kind of a hick uses language like that? Proper people know never, never, never to refer "Jews" but instead always to "neocons" - "Likudniks" - or "The …

Written by David Frum on Thursday May 14, 2009

The Stimulus Explained

An economist friend forwards this piece of Internet flotsam: It is August. In a small town on the south coast of France, holiday season is in full swing. But it is raining, so there is not much business happening. Everyone is heavily in debt. Luckily, a rich Russian tourist arrives in the …

Written by David Frum on Thursday May 14, 2009

Obama's False Healthcare Promise

“You can’t fix the economy without fixing health care,” President Obama has declared. In fact, he sells his health care policies as being essentially an extension of his economic initiatives. And certainly others have made a similar argument . There are many good reasons …

Written by David Gratzer on Thursday May 14, 2009

Today In Albuquerque

Will Governor Bill Richardson (the former designee for Commerce Secretary) attend the town hall with President Obama? If so, how close together will the two men stand?

Written by FF Washington Insider on Thursday May 14, 2009

The Big Money

Unlike a carbon tax, a cap-and-trade system for curbing carbon dioxide creates huge windfalls for lucky winners. Cap-and-trade creates a new currency: carbon emission rights. The Obama administration's budget plans call for selling these rights. Then the plan met the giant favor-selling enterprise …

Written by David Frum on Thursday May 14, 2009

Can A Free Marketeer Defend Regulating Derivatives?

Well, Hernando de Soto does . The great Peruvian expert on building markets in underdeveloped countries points to the irony that our ultra-sophisticated Western market system has replicated everything that is wrong with a Third World informal economy: uncertainty about who owns what, uncertainty …

Written by David Frum on Thursday May 14, 2009

Steele And Socialism

Last week I argued that conservatives should abandon their silly effort to peg Democrats as socialists. This is a strategy to repel, not attract, new voters. It is the conservative equivalent of the “Democratic wing of the Democratic Party” branding the Bush Administration …

Written by Henry Clay on Thursday May 14, 2009

Flunking For Welfare

Suddenly, a couple months before graduation, about ten kids I teach – kids who were passing and were bound to graduate high school – just completely stopped coming to school. I made calls home, left messages and notified the office. The kids continued to not show. I talked to a few …

Written by Thomas Gibbon on Wednesday May 13, 2009

Chuck Schumer Talks...

And the Federal Trade Commission listens ! Any suggestions from our commenters as to what small annoyances of modern American life Republicans can try to solve? To perhaps let people know that we’re on their side?

Written by John S. Gardner on Wednesday May 13, 2009

Gay Marriage: A Way Out, Part 5

This is part four of a series. Read part one here , part two here , part three here , and part four here . In my previous post, I argued that believers in marriage equality, as a matter of principle, should oppose the movement for government-endorsed same sex marriage. …

Written by Austin Bramwell on Wednesday May 13, 2009

No President Has More Threatened The Catholic Conscience

Why are so many Catholics so offended by Notre Dame’s honoring President Obama with a doctor of laws? It is not just abortion (though that matters). It is the threat that the Obama administration poses to Catholic institutions that heal the sick and teach the young. The age old question of …

Written by John Vecchione on Wednesday May 13, 2009

I Suppose It Was Too Much To Hope ...

... that Washington could both exert unparalleled control over the peacetime economy - and also proceed to the Stanley Cup.

Written by David Frum on Wednesday May 13, 2009

Rush In The Corner

Matt Yglesias makes a good point here , no? Rush’s defenders understand, I hope, that painting Rush as the all-powerful lord of conservatism before whom all else must submit was, in its origins, a political strategy devised by their enemies, right? So why are they jumping so quickly …

Written by David Frum on Wednesday May 13, 2009

We Want To Be Modern But ...

... maybe not this modern. From Lawrence Auster's blog : Last Friday evening, May 8, a trolley driver on Boston's Green Line drove through a red light in a "crowded and twisting subway corridor" and crashed into the rear of a stationary trolley, causing injuries to 50 passengers …

Written by David Frum on Wednesday May 13, 2009

Gay Marriage: A Way Out, Part 4

This is part four of a series. Read part one here , part two here , and part three span> here

Written by Austin Bramwell on Wednesday May 13, 2009

Payola At The Correspondents Dinner?

Steve Clemons asks at The Washington Note : I was just told that many major news conglomerates "pay" many of the celebrities to attend the dinner and sit at their tables. This is news to me. I thought most were there because they had an inner policy wonk driving them to the big night gala …

Written by David Frum on Wednesday May 13, 2009

Social Security: It Just Got Even Worse

Yesterday, the Trustees of the Social Security program released their annual report. The recession has taken a toll on the program's finances: the system will run deficits beginning in 2016 rather than 2017 and the program’s trust fund will run out in 2037 rather than 2041. (I’d span> guestimated …

Written by Andrew Biggs on Wednesday May 13, 2009

$80 Million For Obama's Fantasy Detainee Program

One of the complaints – observations, really – about the early days of Barack Obama’s presidency, is that the many declarations of intent have not been translated into action, or deeds. No better example exists than the Guantanamo detention centre for suspect al-Qaeda/Taliban …

Written by Peter Worthington on Wednesday May 13, 2009

"the Congressional Effect"

From 1965 through 2008, there were approximately 11,000 trading days. Market analyst Eric Singer calculates that the S&P rose 50 times higher on days when Congress was not in session than on days when it was. And this political risk is intensifying. From 2000 through 2008, in-session …

Written by David Frum on Friday May 8, 2009

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